Nearly every doctoral student and master's of fine art student at Northwestern University will serve as a graduate assistant during his or her academic career.  A graduate assistantship provides a monthly stipend and is generally accompanied by a merit-based tuition scholarship. Graduate assistants may either serve as teaching assistants or research assistants.  Teaching assistants may serve as graders for a course, lead discussion sections as part of a larger lecture course, or instruct their own class sections.  Research assistants or trainees may work in a lab or conduct other types of investigative research for their primary investigator.  Academic programs recommend all assistantship appointments to The Graduate School. 

Every graduate assistant in The Graduate School must meet the eligibility requirements set for all students receiving financial aid. In addition, students receiving an assistantship must inform The Graduate School of other sources of support (such as traineeships, teaching assistantships, research assistantships, School of Continuing Studies teaching, or other fellowships).  In cases where alternative funding is available, arrangements will be made to integrate this funding with The Graduate School award.  Furthermore, assistants must refrain from remunerative work (other than teaching or research directly related to their assistantships) unless a written request for a waiver is approved by The Graduate School after a thorough review of the circumstances.  If any of these conditions is violated, financial support may be withdrawn by The Graduate School.

Specific Requirements for Teaching Assistants

Each applicant for a teaching assistantship who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident is required to submit a completed Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form annually. For information on obtaining and completing this form, students may consult the Federal Student Aid Web site.

All international applicants and all international students in residence that wish to be considered for teaching assistantships and whose primary language is not English are required to submit the results of the Test of Spoken English (TSE) in addition to the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam. A minimum score of 50 is required on the TSE. The TSE and the TOEFL are administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). To ensure that the results of these tests will be available for timely appointment as a teaching assistant, the applicant should take these tests at least three or four months before the quarter of appointment. For test times and locations, please see the following Web sites: ETS, IELTS